quick hello from india! my home stay is wonderful and i think we may be going to see a bollywood movie tonight!!

xo xo

india will teach us the tolerance and gentleness of mature mind, understanding spirit and a unifying, pacifying love for all human beings. -will durant

05 march 2009 - 0715a

i woke up to the smell of india.

its like when you smell new york city for the first time, it tickles your nose and you can't tell if it's a good smell or a bad smell. like dirt, sewage, car emissions, train tracks, the subway, big buildings &a lot of people.

out the window i cannot see much.
i can see a jetty and some big container ships.
not much else is visible through the smog.

i'm in india, here we go.

" you don't travel like this to have a holiday...

...you travel like this to have a confrontation with yourself."
-bert van hemingen

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03 march 2009

up early, showered, breakfast.
class from 0800-1200, then had a quick lunch outside with mckendree, chandler and caitlin. it was so hot!

my afternoon was spent typing out my field reports for south africa and my proposal for my nutrition class. i would like my home stay to count as a field trip for nutrition and so i had to write up a page about what i plan to take away from my home stay in terms of the nutrition in indian society.

i had a midterm in my 'languages of the world' class today and i'm pleased to say that i thought it was easy. in all fairness, however, i've taken a linguistics class before and if i don't know the material by now then there is a problem. some of the other students thought it was difficult, so i suspect we'll see when we get the grades back.

since i know that many of you were concerned, i'll update you on a very important matter..

....the peanut butter.
as far as the peanut butter situation goes: no change yet. still the gritty kind, its no good on toast! i'd hope we'd get the good stuff back when we're in india but its unlikely. i'll hold out and hope for some good, old fashioned skippy peanut butter in hawaii? thats a long way from now but i'm just not a fan of this paste-like peanut butter we've been having these past few weeks. if possible, i may see about purchasing some in india.

i'm sad to hear that no one has recieved my mail! i sent a couple of postcards home from morocco and a bunch from namibia. maybe they'll get there soon?! my plans for writing postcards in mauritius were sideline by the call of the ocean! (and the price to send mail-- 1usd per postcard!.. i'll hold out until india! )

our dean's memo contained a wealth of information today. aside from the in-depth information provided in our last two memos about traveler's diarrhea, today's memo contained more information about what medicines to take for malaria and what to take if we get sick. they have been especially good about providing this information, since southeast asia is a high risk zone for most voyages in terms of food related sicknesses.

our lovely dean's memo also informed us of the impending day light savings time change in the states. so, as of march 8th we will go from +10.5 ahead of the east coast to +9.5. should make things complicated for a little while there!

we should be seeing the coastline of sri lanka at some point late today or tomorrow. sri lanka has had a rough time politically as of late and cnn.com has mentioned that there was an attack on their cricket team last night. good thing we are not stopping there!

we will be welcoming more guests onto the ship in chennai, a group of medial students from the uva medical school. they will stay with us through japan and will be studying various topics that affect asia, like hiv/aids and sars.

i got my student id card re-printed today. all the cards they printed at the beginning of the voyage were fading, to the point that my name could not be read anymore. the security in chennai is supposedly tough and they are reprinting everyone's faded id cards so as to minimize trouble getting in and out of the dock.

we ate dinner outside and picked the perfect night to do so, it was just windy enough to keep us cool. life on the equator is hot and humid! the sunset was INCREDIBLE. i'm not kidding. the water was so very calm because we are in the doldrums (the latitude where the wind is not very strong) and the sky looked like cotton candy. and, there were DOLPHINS and WHALES. i missed them!! everyone ran to the side of the boat and i couldn't see. and of course, i didn't have my camera. i should make it a habit to carry it around. i am so sad i missed the dolphins -- i've never seen one! apparently they were swimming right along with the ship and jumped out of the water.

this evening was the cultural pre-port for india. two of our guest students gave the lecture and included great tips on where to go, etc. dr hamsapriya also spoke and told everyone to buy the 'complete idiot's guide to hinduism,' if they were truly interested in learning about the religion. she also showed us how to put on a saree and made a design on the floor out of rice flour, in the shape of the lotus. it was beautiful and it made me so excited for india.

today is my friend teresa's 21st birthday. we got her a gift certificate for a facial and went up to pub night with her after pre-port. it was so so so very hot up there, it was very uncomfortable. it was good to be out and to see people a little more relaxed. funny though, how everyone gets dressed up for pub night but in the morning we'll see them in their pj's. 

i am now going to cool off with a quick shower and head to bed. my game plan for tomorrow is to enjoy the sunshine! i know all of you east coasters are probably cursing my name for mentioning the sun, but you should know that i miss the snow! (even if just a tiny bit!) i would have loved a snow day! love to all! <

ps. glad teresa is feeling better! missed you :D xo

a cloudy day near the equator

02 march 2009

i did not sleep very well last night, i think i got tangled in my sheets. when i woke up i was not feeling so well so i went to breakfast and then went back to sleep for almost 2 hours. i missed global studies for the first time and i'm mad i did. i hate missing/skipping class. i probably would have fallen asleep in the union or had to leave so i suppose just this once it'll be okay. i'm not planning on making it a habit. i heard that the lecture was entertaining and interesting, so i'm sad i missed it.

we received our trips from the sign up we had before mauritius and i got a couple i really wanted and a couple i forgot to erase. i was so flustered, nearly forgetting to hand in my request sheet, that i didn't double check my choices. luckily, however, i got the japanese baseball trip, which is sold out, and there is a high demand. i'm selling the trip because we are going to organize our own trip. i just received an email from a girl who wants to buy my trip, so i'm glad to have that all organized. i'll go into more detail about my other trips when the time nears, so i don't run the risk repeat myself.

i've been doing my best to try and study for upcoming exams, i swear. there are no real quiet places on the ship, except for my room. but i don't like to study in my room because i usually sit on my bed and then want to nap. or simply not study. i'm going to give the lounge a try-- i'll just pop on my headphones and try not to talk to anyone.

we learned today that we will be able to sign up for times to use free internet, to be used for class registration, housing, job searching, etc. i am very relieved to have heard this, as i need to find a summer job! i'd love to stay close to home but i'll take what i can get. i'll be looking for jobs related to speech pathology/audiology, working with children, summer camps, anything. if anyone has suggestions, i'll gladly take them!

i spent the majority of my day studying and i was glad that the sun was not out, as i would have been tempted to sit outside. my test came and went, i dont think i did too bad on it. i also have been researching what to do in my next ports, mostly chennai and bangkok-- i want to have a list of things to do and not aimlessly wander, hoping to come across something.

dinner was fun, the usual girls and the california boys. we went out to watch the sunset and while i was getting my camera, 4 flights of stairs down and back up, i was told i missed the best part. oh well, what i saw was pretty too. we then played around in the humid air and i took a bunch of pictures of kelsey and mckendree goofing off.

came back to the room to review for my midterm tomorrow and ended up watching the black history month discussion on the tv. it was very interesting to hear people's ideas, both black and white and everywhere inbetween, of what black history month means to them. i then switched over and have been watching iron man. i'm pretty sure i've seen the movie about 3-4 times since its been on.. next movie please!

i'm off to bed, classes in the morning. planning on some sunshine time if it isnt cloudy tomorrow. hope you new englanders aren't too miserable in the snow.. at least you got a snow day!

much love, xo


sorry there is nothing too exciting in todays post, its been a quiet and sleepy day on the mv explorer. wait for the sea olympics post, i'm working on it. :)

something to think about

this is a handout from mckendree's service learning class. i've seen similar sheets before, i'm sure it is a chain email. but give it a chance. it brings home just how lucky we are to be on this journey and to be so privileged.

------
if we could shrink the earth's population to a village of precisely 100 people, with all the existing human ratios remaining the same, it would look something like the following:

57 asians
21 europeans
14 from the western hemisphere (north &south america)
08 africans

52 female
48 male

70 would be non-white
30 would be white

70 would be non-christian
30 would be christian

89 would be heterosexual
11 would be homosexual

6 people would possess 59% of the entire world's wealth and all 6 would be from the united states

80 would live in sub-standard housing

70 would be unable to read

50 would suffer malnutrition

1 would be near death; 1 would be near birth

1 would have a college education

1 would own a computer

when one considers our world from such a compressed perspective, the need for acceptance, understanding and education becomes apparent

the following is also something to ponder:

...if you woke up this morning with more health than illness.. you are more blessed than the million who will not survive the week

...if you never experienced the danger of battle, the loneliness of imprisonment, the agony of torture or the pangs of starvation.. you are ahead of 500 million people in the world

...if you can attend a religious meeting of your choice without fear of harassment, arrest, torture or death.. you are more blessed than 3 billion people in the world.

...if you have food in the refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof overhead and a place to sleep.. you are richer than 75% of this world

...if you have money in the bank, in your wallet and spare change in a dish someplace.. you are among the top 8% of the world's wealthy

...if your parents are still alive and still married.. you are very rare, even in the united states &canada

...if you can hold up your head with a smile on your face and are truly thankful.. you are lucky because the majority can but most do not

...if you can hold someone's hand, hug them or even touch them on the shoulder.. you are lucky because you can offer a healing touch.

...if you can read this message.. you are luckier than over 2 billion people in the world who cannot read at all

(sources: central intelligence agency world factbook, the information please almanac, the united nations human development report &the world development report)

truth is: you'll never need more than this

01 march 2009

a slow morning for most of the ship -- everyone was positively exhausted from our long day yesterday. i suppose that being hungover from mauritius ( i was not, but many were), combined with a full day of running around in the equator sun made waking up for class a challenge.

as i mentioned earlier, i was up for my 0800 class as many of you were heading out for your saturday night or heading to bed. classes were interesting today, as they usually are, but that does not mean it is any easier to stay awake. the rocking of the ship makes it hard to keep my eyes open, even with 2 mugs of hot tea.

global studies was a lecture about the history of india from an inter-port lecturer from india, dr hamsapriya srinivasan. dressed in her traditional sari, she gave a whirlwind history of colonization, the caste system, hinduism and the spread of english. it was so very hard to keep up with her lecture and to decipher her accent but i think my notes are relatively thorough despite her pace.

lunch today was very exciting -- grilled cheese and tomato soup. i was thrilled! funny what qualifies as an awesome meal. les mccabe has said that each voyage can be judged based upon what types of questions he gets and what everyone is most concerned about. he's quick to say that when our main concerns revolve around, "when is the next taco day,"or "what is going on with the peanut butter,"that he couldn't be happier. he claims this is the best voyage he's been on, though i would bet he says that to every voyage! we have, however, been drama-free and have had any major issues, so maybe we are the best..

to bring you all up to speed on the peanut butter situation, its been a challenge. we began our journey with the smooth peanut butter, like jiff or skippy, that we have at home. nice and creamy, perfect for pb&j sandwiches and what we were used to at home. perfect with toast, bananas, apples, pears, with brownies, or even by itself. (can you tell i like peanut butter?) after spain, however, the peanut butter has changed. its now gritty and hard to spread. and its just not the same as the good stuff we had at the beginning. though, now that les spent a good five minutes complaining about the peanut butter at our mauritian pre-port, maybe something will be done about it! here's hoping...

i took a nap from 100-300p today which i do not like doing but i could hardly keep my eyes open. after i woke up i took a super-quick shower to get moving (and to conserve water..) and got down to business on my looming homework &studying. turns out i have a quiz tomorrow and a midterm the next day. my midterm does not sound overly challenging; its only 15 multiple choice questions -- to me that's a pop quiz!

i received an email from our field office regarding my home stay in india, asking for a list of interests. i always find coming up with a short list to be complicated-- i don't think a list of five or so nouns and verbs can adequately describe a person! the typical "music, reading, photography..."is limiting and often makes me sound boring! i don't think i could accurately describe any person with just a short list of interests! i did my best and hopefully my list is enough to place me with an interesting family; though i'm sure all the families will be interesting!

the movie iron man was playing today on the loop, which again begs the question: if they have all these great movies, why do they play them when we are in class and why do they play the documentaries at night? i’d love to have a little more variety than the 4 movies i brought with me to watch at night!

since today is sunday there is a church service, which mckendree is going to speak at. i'm not sure if i will attend, but i think i'd like to hear her speak. she's such a grounded person and i'm lucky to have someone so level headed as my roommate here on the ship.

update: i did attend the church service and i'm glad i did. there are so many spiritual people on this ship and it's nice to see just how many people have their priorities straight. i enjoyed listening to other people's stories of how they have grown spiritually and it was inspiring. i'm not always sure how i feel about the church and organized religion but i would absolutely say that i believe in god. it sounds cliche but this trip has opened my eyes to how truly blessed i am. i think i have said it before, that i don't often use the word blessed and i feel that it can be used out of context, but it is the only word to describe my life right now. i am absolutely blessed. i won't go on any longer, i need to organize those thoughts first.

thinking about my state of being at this moment reminded me of a song that came on my ipod the other day when i was trying to fall asleep and could not quiet my thoughts. a random song from a random cd that i had forgotten i had and don't think i ever listened to. the cd is a collection of songs called 'songs for tibet - the art of peace,' it is a compilation of songs by various artists. i listened to vanessa carlton's song, more than this. the lines i took away from it are as follows:

if you think you'll be happy
if granted one more wish
but the truth is
you'll never need more than this

i am trying so very hard to keep perspective and to not let the little things bug me -- i'm on a ship going around the world! who does that??!!

okay, enough rambling and procrastinating for today. i miss you all very much and enjoy all the comments and emails SO much! i'm trying to get myself all caught up on posts, but before i know it i'll be in india!

love &hugs from a million miles away,
laura


ps. if anyone has any burning questions about life on the ship, my life, the ports thus far, what's up next, etc. please let me know. i'm working on another question &answer post! just leave them in the comments section!

mauritius: a day in paradise

"you gather the idea that mauritius was made first, and then heaven; and that heaven was copied after mauritius" -mark twain

-------

everyone was excited for mauritius and most plans included laying on the beach. i set my alarm for the 0707 sunrise, with plans of heading up to see it on the deck but ended up just enjoying what i could see from my window. the water was calm and i was able to see the sun from mckendree's bed. i got a couple of great photos and then got myself ready for a day in the sun &applied my sunscreen!

after breakfast, mckendree, kelsey, ren and i watched the diplomatic briefing from our cabin. we had been warned the night before as well as throughout the morning to be patient in getting off the ship. since there was only one day, every one was rushing to get off as quickly as possible. the semester at sea trips were dismissed first, which meant kelsey and ren left for their day on a catamaran &snorkeling.

mckendree and i organized ourselves and waited in our cabin with our partners in crime for the day, caitlin and teresa. caitlin had roomed with mckendree and i in the bahamas and teresa is her roommate. soon after 0900 the ship was declared 'cleared' and there was a rush to the gangway, which was luckily located on the second deck; meaning we were closest to the exit.

as with casablanca and namibia before, we were in a rather industrial area. no trains this time, but containers and fishing boats galore. we headed to the corner of the dock, with nearly everyone else, and waited in line for a water taxi. the city center would have been a 35 minute walk away and we had been advised to take the water taxi, which would be much more efficient.

the water taxi was nothing more than a small motor boat with benches along the walls and was filled to (or beyond..) capacity. i most certainly could have put my hand in the ocean from my seat on the edge. it was quite the trip through large coast guard vessels, fishing boats, and cargo ships -- all with their crews staring at the boats filled with americans.

once we reached the waterfront, it was similar in style to the waterfront in cape town, but not as fancy. the same concept. there were stores, tour agencies and taxi drivers desperate for some work. the taxi drivers have been similar in most countries, they come up to you and don't leave you alone until you get in their cab. its a very territorial process, with most drivers fighting over who gets to take the passengers. this is a practice that makes me very uncomfortable. its hard enough for us to get our bearings when we first step on land, 20 taxi drivers running up does not help feeling overwhelmed. i'm not sure i'll be able to 'get used to it,' though i know it will be the same in most countries.

after somewhat haphazardly wandering towards a mall, we found what we'd been searching for: an atm. the exchange rate is 1 usd to 31 mauritian rupees. i wasn't sure how much to take out as i didn't want to spend too much money so i took out 20 usd worth. we also were unsure as to how far our money would go, which made our atm trip take longer.

caitlin ventured into a store and tried to get an idea of where we could find sea kayaking. after some gesturing-- though the official language is english, most people speak french -- we purchased a map and decided to head to grand baie, on the northern part of the island.

upon exiting the mall we were again approached by taxi drivers. since we had a better idea of where to go, we decided on a driver and headed off on the 30 minute drive to grand baie. we drove in rafi's brand new car, on the other side of the road. this still is a strange feeling, though its been the norm in every country we've been to thus far. while driving we listened to a pop station with american and indian music, which was fun.

out the window were endless fields of sugar cane. the fields reminded me of my grandfather's farm with rows upon rows of corn in the middle of summer. making sugar from sugar cane is a labor-intensive process and is 25% of the product exported from mauritius. it was a beautiful view and a great way to get a taste of the island.

i think we confused everyone when we requested kayaking. our driver spoke only some english and i think our attempts to imitate the motions of kayaking were interpreted as pedal boats by many. others thought we wanted to rent a sail boat to cruise around with and others thought we were looking for a catamaran. i suspect most people that come to the island are most interested in windsurfing, traditional surfing and simply laying in the sun. we saw several brochures with crazy tourist activities. aside from the traditional snorkeling there are 'blue safaris' and 'under-water walking tours.' the safaris are submarine tours and the walking tours are these crazy oxygen helmets to wear while walking on the bottom of the ocean. crazy!

it was nearly 1100 when we arrived in grand baie, and it was absolutely worth it. we stopped at a public beach where our driver talked to a guide who told us which beach to go to. gino, our non-italian guide, took us to a resort where he arranged for us to sea kayak and snorkel for the day. it was a total of 30 usd for the whole day-- a perfect price for the two activities.

an interesting trip to the bank, where the atm was being repaired and we were the only white people in the room, and we were ready for kayaking.

the downfall to this beautiful resort? there were no lockers or secure places to leave our valuables. the guide, a hotel worker and a man selling sarongs on the beach all tried to tell us that it was safe, to leave our bags, they'd be fine. well, that was not going to happen -- each of us had cameras, credit cards, cash, debit cards, id's and phones. i got very antsy and felt like we'd have no choice-- someone would sit with our things while the other 3 went out and we'd take turns.

then i remembered i had packed my vera bradley plastic lined bag. i'd figured i would have a wet swimsuit and stuffed it in my purse. it was perfect! we piled all our valuables into the bag and then put it in a plastic bag. there was no way it was waterproof, but it would protect everything. i was voted to hold the bag in my kayak, though i was nervous i'd tip over!

mckendree opted to go out on a small sail boat with one of the hotel guys and so caitlin, teresa and i took out the kayaks. it was absolutely incredible. the water was crystal clear and we could see the bottom. there was also a breakwater far out and so the water was incredibly calm. we paddled around, raced and checked out some of the boats anchored off-shore. we went quite a ways down and smelled a restaurant somewhere on the shore, reminding us just how hungry we were.

after smelling something delicious, we soon made our way back to the shore. i was sad to get out of my child-sized kayak. they looked like little white shoes, the most simplistic kayaks i've ever seen. i am glad to report that nothing happened to my expensive passenger, the vera bag with all our valuables in it.

mckendree's sailing guide recommended that we walk down the beach, to the white tents in the distance and to find the local lunch stand, in an old bus. we waded in the water for a little while to cool off and then gathered up our belongings and began our trek down the beach, promising to return for our snorkeling excursion around 3p.

our walk on the beach was wonderful, to put it simply. being a friday, many people were not on the beach. the sand was white, there were no rocks like the beaches at home! much of our walk was shaded and there were peices of coral everywhere. caitlin was funny and poked at anything the looked strange.. there was also a shrine of some sort tucked into a corner. the majority of the population is originally of indian descent and therefore hindu. it was odd to see simply because the statues looked like people from far away- they were dressed in clothes!

i collected a few small pieces of coral and tried my best to make a mental picture. i did not bring my big camera but i was hesitant to get sand in my small one. caitlin had an underwater camera so i'll hopefully get some of her photos, whenever that may be.

our guide had recommended 'mine bouille' for lunch, which was essentially lo mein but with skinny noodles. it was about 3 usd for a take out box and a liter water. perfect :) the noodles were delicious, though mine were more spicy than they were supposed to be. regardless, we enjoyed our noodles on the beach, enjoying some shade and watching the other beach-goers.

we made our way back to 'our' beach and made it to the small boat just in time for snorkeling. i must say that i am most certainly not a swimmer, i'm not a huge fan of water that i cannot stand in and i don't like feeling dirty. well, i was about to push every last one of those limits.

our small boat, similar in size to our water taxi, had a glass bottom so that we could see the ocean floor. on our boat were the four of us as well as 6 little kids from the hotel. they were all probably between the ages of 4-7 and only spoke french.. they were so cute and they were SO excited about the glass bottom boat. after taxing out for about five minutes, we came upon a few other small boats and snorkelers.

i have never snorkeled before and no one seemed too worried about that. there was no instruction-- we were sort of just told to go. we each got masks and flippers and jumped off the side. i was very nervous but once i got my bearings, i loved it! there were over 20 varieties of fish that i could count but i'm sure there were more than i counted.

the reefs were beautiful -- mostly white, some grey and some pale blue. there were some that looked like little branches and they were my favorite. there were fish everywhere, they would swim around us. the water was not more than 15-20ft deep and the water was crystal clear. having never snorkeled before i think i started with a bang. it was so peaceful underwater and it was so much easier than i had expected. i snorkeled in the indian ocean! good heavens! i had a great time and was comfortable in the water, which is unlike me.

after a couple of tries and going down too far and getting a mouthful of salt water, i got the hang of floating around and was able to regulate my breathing. i tried to stay relatively close to the at least one of the other girls and enjoyed the quiet. of course all the pretty fish and amazing coral certainly made the time enjoyable. there were a large number of black and white striped fish that reminded me of the zebras i saw in south africa. there were quite a few brown fish that were cleaning up the reefs and stayed close to the bottom. small schools of little silver fish darted away from the larger fish. get ready for another disney/pixar reference: i felt like i was in finding nemo! there was the fish that looked like gil (i looked him up, he was a moorish idol fish) and several others from the school scene.

after nearly an hour and a leak in my mask, we all piled back into our little boat, finding all of our belongings soaked. again, thank goodness for my plastic vera bag. after an encounter -- by encounter i mean me squealing and feeling nauseous -- with a small dead octopus that had been caught by the snorkeling guide, we were on our way back to the shore. the other girls, and everyone on the boat for that matter, thought i was crazy for getting so worked up about the octopus but it was gross! the other girls even touched it! and of course, our guide who was out to torture me, put the bucket with the octopus right in front of me for the ride back. uck.

making it safely back on shore, we wandered our way back to the spot where our driver planned to meet us. i'm glad we had made plans to meet up with him, it was a guaranteed ride back from an area where there were not taxis readily available. as soon as we got moving i was asleep-- all the sun and swimming tired me out. the drive back to port louis was nearly an hour due to traffic and i woke up just as we were getting out.

i was relieved to be able to see the ship, as i did not want dock time. we wanted to go to the market to buy crafts but everything closes at 5p on fridays, which was unfortunate. we wandered around which was filled with over-priced surf shops like billabong, ripcurl, roxy, etc. mckendree was on a hunt for a new bathing suit because she'd ripped her bottoms jumping off the boat for snorkeling. not wanting to spend $35 usd on a bottom, she opted to wait it out, as she had another bottom on the ship.

after feeling dissatisfied with the shopping, we searched for a cafe to get a snack. the girls opted for drinks but i was far too tired &dehydrated and opted for a big water. we also shared a big huge ice cream sundae which was the most perfect way to end our day in the sun.

we wandered our way back to the ship and found ourselves on a very drunk and anxious water taxi. on ship time was 8p and we got on our taxi around 715p. many of the excruciatingly drunk girls were panicking about getting dock time because they were nervous about the line that awaited us outside the ship. their nervous energy was enough to make even the sober kids nervous. we waited for the taxi to be full, paid our $2 usd and were on our way. once we reached the ship, there was a rush for the ladder to climb up to the dock and then people were running to the line. we took our time, waited in line, had our bags searched and were on before 740.

we hustled our way up to the barbecue on the top deck and enjoyed a nice, 'free' meal. it was fun to reunite with ren and kelsey, it felt like the 4 of us had been apart for days and it was only a matter of hours! after our meal, a shower was absolutely necessary.

there was no rest for the weary, as 9p were the opening ceremonies for the sea olympics! more on that in the next blog, i have to get some work done!

overall, i loved mauritius. i love all my ports, for different reasons. i think our one day off in paradise was exactly what we all needed, faculty and students alike. i especially enjoyed being asked if i was south african, what a compliment! i suspect that there are not that many american tourists in mauritius so south african or french would be the first guess.

the current plan is that once i get married to my prince from dubai in the winelands of south africa that i will honeymoon on the beach in mauritius..

...hey, a girl can dream!